I was reading a lovely Fanfic on the site and was struck with a sudden thought. Why do people always give Kagome the "Momy" position when it comes to shippo??? I don't really understand it....In both the manga and the anime Both her and Inuyasha seem more like siblings than anything?? Am i just seeing things diffrently??? Kagome (to me at least) seems to be caring for him in a best friend/sister way.....
The Inuwiki even has inuyasha listed as (foster brother) I know that can't be completely relaid upon as any one can edit it; but Kagome and everyone else is simply listed as a partner.....

THis is not meant as a rant, i really do want to understand!

Kagome's best character trait, in my opinion, is that she is caring.

I think most people who see her as Shippo's adoptive mother, go by how she interacts with him. She treats him how a mother would. Shippo also seems to feel more comfortable with her and usually seeks safety through her. Its just their interaction with one another.

I think most people feel uncomfortable having her be his mother because of her age. Which is why they will make her his 'caring big sister'

I personally see her as being his adoptive mother.

PRVN wrote:
Kagome's best character trait, in my opinion, is that she is caring.

I think most people who see her as Shippo's adoptive mother, go by how she interacts with him. She treats him how a mother would. Shippo also seems to feel more comfortable with her and usually seeks safety through her. Its just thier interaction with one another.

I think most people feel uncomfortable having her be his mother because of her age. Which is why they will make her his 'caring big sister'

I personally see her as being his adoptive mother.

-I totally get your point that Kagome is really caring and stuff because she is, but I never really got from the show a mother/son like relationship, I always see in fanfics though. But unless I like was totally oblivious to it in the show I never really saw that

I don't really watch the anime, so maybe their relationship isn't shown that way in it. But when I was reading the manga, it was what I saw or the feeling I got when reading their interaction with one another. Just my opinion on their relationship.

Also, when writing their relationship, I don't like to write it so Shippo completely forgets about his birth mother and father. They both mean a lot to him, and I usually want to keep that in my stories, that Kagome is not replacing his birth mother, but is more like a second mother to him.

It wasn't in the anime or manga. I'm not able to answer for other fanfic writers who have made the same decision, but I wrote Shippou as seeing Kagome as a mother figure in my story "Double Vision" because I was charmed by her youthful, clumsy attempts to care for him since he was an orphan. I feel like her being Shippou's "mama" creates a nice balance to Sesshomaru learning to care for Rin. They are both nurturing, parential figures in spite of the fact that they are too young and inexperienced to really fit that mold, that's what makes their learning so endearing and cute in my eyes. I also feel like it points up the fact that most of the characters are displaced and orphaned, and that we can create our own families out of caring and necessity, no blood ties needed.

Agreed with PRVN

Kagome is the type of character who anyone could see as Shippo's mother since Sango takes on a more sisterly role within the anime.
She cares for him, bathes him, feeds him, shelters him, provides for him and so on so it's pretty much easy to see why people could write Kagome as his momma ^-^

Thank you all for the wonderfull replys^_^

I see were most of you are coming from, Kagome is very caring and nutureing, but i still see her as more of a sister; she lets shippo mostley do his own thing, feeds and cleans him when nessacary, potects him from a loving/harsh/abuseve older sibbling, and the big bad guys....

Recently being forced into a similar position. (being the main caregiver for my little brother) I understand how easy it is to be stuck in the mother role, and having to play the part even if you still feel like the sister.(lol can be VERY frustrating!)

I like the ffs where she takes up caring for him, but not replacing his parents(unless au) because if you truely love you parents no one can take there place.

Also you have tho think about what Kagome taking on a motherly role could simbolize. A motherly relationship helps to make Kag seam both more feminine, and murture. Feminin because obvously mothers are female, and murture becasue it take sa certain levil of responsibility to care for anorher little person. This murturetuy can help to boost Kag above the (as I'm sure everyone agrees) mostly childish Inuyasha to the highly responsible and murture Sesshomaru. It can also serve to be a sort of attraction for Sesshomaru because all guys are attracted to women that have proven themselves to be good caregivers (its instinct plain and simple), also becuae he who is Rin's father figure surly must know that the girl needs a motherly figure as well.
Well at least that's how I see it...

Shippo's role in the Manga/anime depends on your own expereinces. Most of the time when shippo's in trouble or wants to share something, he seeks out Kagome. The way i see it is when your young you are more likley to seek out a parent when your in trouble then a sister or brother. Also kagomes way of caring for him, supports the idea of kagome as a mother. But everyone interprets their relationship differently and that has come across in the stories i have read. he was seen as a friend, a brother and one story he was her lover which was really weired to me.

lol lover that is kinda strange^_^

Cultured wise, I think Shippo would see Kagome as an older sister. From my understanding, countries like Japan and Korean go like this: a toddler will call an unknown teen "big brother/big sister". An unknown adult "aunt/uncle" and an unknown elderly "grandma/grandpa". Asian countries are more open to considering everyone family than America. In America, family and friends is locked to blood relations or extreme closeness while in Japan relations aren't so strict, just formal. It's the same kind of reasoning Japanese students use Sempai or Kohai; it's a respected way of addressing someone.

When I was learning Korean and in Korea, it wasn't considered odd to go to a restaurant and greet the elderly host/waitress as "grandma". My classmates would tease them sometimes and greet them as "young lady". Compare to America where terms like Ma`am and Miss are used and you can start to understand the differences.

Also take in the fact Japan has many honorifics. Some are used for deep respect, some for common use, some for closeness, and some for cuteness. Honorifics shape the way the Japanese people interact with each other and it's all based on the age and status of a person.

I find it quit annoying to read Shippo portrayed as a whinny 3 year old when I see him more as a more mature 10-12 year old. He still acts as a child, but he knows when to get serious.

The Wikipedia article on Japanese Honorific goes into more detail and I recommend reading it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics

readalot wrote:
lol lover that is kinda strange^_^


I honestly don't think it's that strange. Though I can see how Kagome, being the primary caregiver for Shippo, can adopt either the role of sister or mother, I have used their relationship for the more carnal aspects of love. Seeing that she did take care of him, it is only natural he come to care for her and after Inuyasha had hurt her several times in the past, Shippo would of course want to protect the one that had cared for him when there was no one else.

Him falling in love with her isn't all that far-fetched, I think.

In a Twilight-Inuyasha crossover, 'Love of the Dead' and a Yu Yu Hakusho-Inuyasha crossover, 'Youkai Ball' I used Shippo as either her mate or lover. If you think about it, if Kagome can end up with Sesshoumaru, she certainly can end up with Shippo. So many different aspects can lead up to it happening, so many scenarios.

-Shippo experiencing a growth spurt due to his youkai lineage
-Him living through the ages and being the only one alive and finding her
-Her traveling back in time except not far enough and Inuyasha is gone/mated
-A spell or potion aging him faster

Shippo is kitsune after all, and they are seen as 'sex symbols' and 'tricksters' in most fanfictions so why wouldn't he lavish her with his attention as an older kitsune?

I agree with Kagome Yuki Niwa.
Shippou, in the anime, is shown/portrayed as a young child. If based by height, you could say he was under the category of a toddler. Because of this, most people are forgettig the endless possibilities and options that being a youkai can give. We don't know any specifics on how they age, so in fanfiction we have to make up background information based on (or not) events that happen in the anime/manga that might hint to something or other.

For all we know, Shippou could've lived fifty years by the time Inuyasha and Kagome first we meet him and would've seen a lot of social interaction either between humans, other demons, or his parents... though we don't know what became of his mother (or at least I haven't, my memory of the anime/manga is a bit blurry).

He could've willingly (albiet subconciously) forced his body to stop growing because of the lack of parental guidance, leaving him alone and unsure, or he really is young and kitsune actually have a growth-spurt where it doesn't take long after Kagome's -supposed- leave to mature. And if we follow that scenario, it wouldn't be too long after that when he could understand some of those more adult feelings and grow to love her as he waits those 500 some years.

Again, possibilities are endless, so it really isn't that hard to see the ShipKag pairing.


On the note of the topic, I personally enjoy seeing Kagome as the elder sister for Shippou. Those stories occasionally pop up between the mother-son relationships, and rare ones like that are always a plus in my book!

The reason I think Kagome is more sister-ly is because, well, first of all she is the one that reprimands Inuyasha when he picks on Shippou. Yeah, a mother does that, too, but if you've seen sibling fights and Inuyasha was playing the role of the middle child, then the sister, taking the role of the 'responsible' one as she would be the oldest, would save the younger.

Second of all, Kagome has this air of kind-and-caring around her. When they first meet Shippou, he ends up trying to steal their shards. Of course, the whole thunder brother plot plays out and while Inuyasha fights Hiten, Kagome and Shippou go for Manten's pelt made out of the fur of Shippou's father.

That scene made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside, because my older sister and I used to team up whenever one of us wanted something done (like cleaning rooms, we'd do one room first and then the other the next day) and we'd come up with this detailed plan of how we were going to do what we needed to do. It wasn't written down and we just started doing our part when everything was said. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to the anime (or manga, I think) when Shippou transformed into Kagome and fooled Manten while the real Kagome tried to shoot the Shikon shards out of his forehead.

Another reason is like what Eien no Melody said, how stranger-teens were referred to as sister and brother while an adult would be aunt or uncle. I'm Vietnamese and when I was little, I would call the older kids or teens in my family big brother/sister even if blood-wise they weren't. Kagome, at the time, was fifteen. Yes, they couldn't tell her exact age on first sight, but imo she didn't look or sound mature enough to be an adult. If I had ran across her when I was little, the first thing that would slip out of my mouth would be "Big sister, _______."

Like said, that's just my opinion on the whole Shippou deal, but since it's fanfiction, anything can happen.